


Something Special, Something Pure

by Sweety_Bird



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Bucky is an ass, Character Death, Gen, Human!Steve, mermaid au, merman!Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-23
Updated: 2013-09-23
Packaged: 2017-12-27 09:53:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/977383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweety_Bird/pseuds/Sweety_Bird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The grass is always greener on the other side. That's what they always say, right? Well, whoever came up with that line never said anything about the ocean. Nor the people who inhabit it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Special, Something Pure

The grass is always greener on the other side. That's what they always say, right? Well, whoever came up with that line never said anything about the ocean. Nor the people who inhabit it. 

\------

A glimmer of red scales was barely visible in the water, a quick flash of scarlet and gold before the disturbance was gone. Under the surface, this beautiful creature swam along at an incredible pace, though he didn't seem strained in the slightest. Though a sea creature, the mermaid -or shall we say merman?- had sunkissed skin, as if he spent a good deal of time examining the world above the waves. A neatly trimmed beard adorned his youthful face, which matched his cropped brown hair and complimented a pair of lovely brown eyes full of intelligence and curiosity. 

Tony was always eager to learn. The merman constantly left the reefs his kind called home, journeying at length to explore things here and there, and to admire the workings of humans. Of course, he was always cautioned away from them- _"The humans are violent, you'll get yourself killed!"_ \- but he mostly ignored the nagging. Humans, in his eyes, were strange yet wonderful beings. Sometimes the things they created ended up at the bottom of the sea, where he would snatch them up and admire them. If he could only figure out the purpose of these inventions, know how to create them himself.. But such dreams were just dreams. 

Today the merman had swam south of the reef and towards the shore, eager to perhaps find another metal stick or a piece of leather that fit his hand perfectly (he had one for the right, and was avidly searching for a left). Little did he know that he would be getting so much more. 

Upon breaching the surface of the water, Tony's gaze swept the land before him with both longing and respect. He was of course curious about walking on land, but he would never trade the ocean for anything, not even land. It was his home. However, as he admired the coast, his gaze happened upon a strange item. It was brown and looked to be made of the same material as his hand coverings, except it was larger and had strings attached to it. How strange! The creature was intrigued, and with a few flaps of his tail he swam closer, the water growing more and more shallow as he went. This was dangerous he knew, for no one in the history of their kind had been out of water, but he had to have this thing! 

When the water grew so thin that he was no longer in it, Tony managed to pull himself to shore with a grunt. His scales shone brilliantly in the sun, the sand an interesting sensation on his tail. He flapped it a few times, laughing as sand was sent into the air as a result. What a queer feeling, to be dry. Shaking water from his hair, the merman turned and dragged himself the last few feet to the thing. 

As soon as he brought it to his face he gagged- it smelled horrible! Taking care to keep it away from his nose, Tony carefully stuck a hand inside. It was definitely not another hand covering, nor a hat. So entranced with the human object was he that he didn't notice the people sneaking towards him until something wrapped around his tail and yanked him away from the ocean. He cried out in alarm, dropping the leather item and scrabbling at the sand as the water seemed to shrink away from him.

"Look at this! What have we got here?"  
"Looks like a mermaid- whatsit doin' on shore?"  
"Must be stupid or somethin'."  
Tony struggled, looking up with terror in his eyes at a group of men -human men!- staring down at him. The one who had his tail in his grip grinned, that is until said tail slapped him in the face. 

"Oi, Bucky, you okay?" One of them asked with a snicker as this Bucky person dropped the tail and held his face.  
"Stupid thing!" He snarled in response, kicking the merman, who yelped in response and cringed away. "What, too afraid to talk?" 

"Mermaids can't talk, everyone knows that," another huffed, "but I heard they sing real nice." It looked like they might try and force the merman into it, but their attention was brought back to their captive as he began to cry out in agony. A strange thing was happening to his tail, which was shimmering with something besides the sun. It was clearly painful, enough so that the poor merman didn't notice when a blonde man joined the group. 

"Bucky, what's going on? What are you all-" he cut off, staring at Tony in shock. It was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen- and it was in pain. He rounded on his friend.

"What did you do to him?" He snarled, surprising the men. No one had seen him this angry in a good while. 

"Steve, we didn't do nothing! He just started screamin', I swear!" Bucky swore, but once again he was interrupted as the merman began to cry out again. Every eye was on him as his tail began to distort, the brilliant golden fin shrinking down as the tail began to split in half. Not a word was spoken.

Tony whimpered as the pain finally died away, looking down in horror where his wonderful tail had been. Now he had- what had humans called them? Legs? He had legs. He tried to move them, but seeing as he had never had legs before, they kicked and flopped uselessly. Panicking, he tried to scramble to the water, which really ended up being a sort of mad crawl to the water. He slid in head first, only to sit up spluttering and coughing a moment later. He couldn't breathe, why couldn't he breathe? The poor man sat shivering in the shallows, afraid and confused. What had happened? 

Steve stared in shock for a moment, blue eyes wide before he turned and shooed the other men off. He wasn't sure what had happened, but he wanted to help. As he approached, the grieving man automatically flinched away. 

"It's okay. I'm not like them," Steve murmured, kneeling in the shallows in front of the man. Tony gazed at him hesitantly, brown eyes full of wariness before edging closer. Curiosity always did get the better of him. Seeing that it was okay, Steve cautiously placed a hand on the man's shoulder. When that earned him neither a positive nor negative reaction, he stood and scooped Tony into his arms. 

The dark haired man was quite startled at first, but once he understood he relaxed, leaning his head on the broad shoulder before him. His family had warned him, hadn't they? They'd warned him and this was what he got. He shut his eyes in despair.

Steve felt a pang for this lost creature, this poor man who had been ripped away from everything he knew. "It's okay," he said softly, hoping he could help whoever this was make a new life for himself. "It's okay." 

\-------------

That was a month ago. Bitterly Steve recalled how he had stood there and let the poor thing transform. Why hadn't he taken him back to the water? This was partially his fault.

Ever since that night, Steve had taken to caring for the man. His modest shack on the coast was big enough for two, not that they even needed the space. All Tony did was sit at the window and stare out at the ocean longingly. It drove Steve mad with anger and sadness on his behalf. What did the creature do to deserve such a thing? Such torture? His gaze flickered to the man, who was staring out at the swells as usual. Tony was obviously sick- his skin had lost its luster, his eyes dull and face gaunt. He barely ate anything that Steve brought him, he almost never slept, and still he had not uttered a word.

Steve was nervous for him. Worried about his health, his sanity, his life- all of it. He couldnt even get Tony out of the chair by the window. As much as it was frustrating, he never took out his anger on the man. He had been through enough. 

Now it was night, and the last rays of the sun cast a warm orange glow over the slate colored waves. Tony rested his chin on his arms, which lay folded on the window sill as he gazed out. Steve rested a hand on his shoulder, but he wasn't surprised when the man didn't stir. "Goodnight," he said softly, then left the room to get into bed.

\-----------

Later that night, Steve woke to the sound of a voice. At first he was confused, but as the grogginess of sleep left him, he was able to discern that the voice was male, and lifted in song. Sitting up, the blonde listened and found that he could barely breathe. The song was breathtakingly sad- it had no words, but the rises and dips of the somber tenor voice brought tears to his eyes. Could it be his companion? He scrambled to the other room, and was graced with the sight and sounds of a mermaid in song. 

Tony was still gazing out at the sea longingly, a slightly shaky hand pressed against the glass of the window as he sang his mourning and grief. His heart had been taken from him, and without a heart, nothing could live. As the final notes died away, the man lay his head down and went still. 

Frozen to the spot, Steve could do nothing for several moments, reeling in shock. He felt as though he could hear his own heartbeat. Then he was flinging himself across the room, feeling for the steady thump of a heart, the flow of blood, the intake of breath, anything that would show him that the man was still alive. He wasn't.

Steve gave a ragged sob, stroking the dead merman's face. Whether to comfort him or himself, he wasn't sure, but his hand trembled as he shut the sightless brown eyes. The ocean had been the last thing he'd ever seen, as though a cruel taunt. It was like a knife through the stomach to Steve, to cradle such a precious, pure thing in his arms and know that it had died of a broken heart. 

Tenderly he lifted the body into his arms, cradling it close as he slowly left his cottage and trudged towards the sea. The least he could do for this man, who he'd never even gotten to properly meet, would be to return his body to his home. The light breeze reminded him of the tears sliding down his face, but he made no move to dry them, as they weren't done flowing. Never had he felt such regret.

Steve tread into the gentle waves, continuing until they lapped at his stomach. He was about to lower the man into the water when the swish of disturbance in the waves alerted him. When he looked up, he was startled to see several torsos poking out of the water, gazing at him with ranging expressions of sadness and wariness. It made his heart constrict in his chest- the merman had even had a family, and now he was returning to them permanently. 

One of the mermaids, a woman with shoulder length strawberry hair, swam forward with a cry and took Tony's face in her hands, chirruping frantically at him and looking up at Steve pleadingly. 

"I'm sorry," he whispered, looking down at her with pity and regret. What else could he say? There was nothing to excuse this sin. The woman choked on a sob and fell into the arms of an elderly merman, who rubbed her back soothingly as he gazed upon his dead friend with glistening eyes. 

Steve was certain of one thing- everything about the creatures called mermaids, everything that they believed was horribly wrong. And this was the price they paid for being wrong. Two strong looking males swam forward and took Tony from his arms; he let them with another whispered apology, his tears starting anew. Possibly even more heart-breaking was the music that began to flow from all of them, each mermaid and merman alike singing in mourning for their lost relative, friend, and kinsman. Most of them were singing throughout shudders of sobs that threatened to overtake them, the sadness at the death of one of their own almost too much to bear. 

They bore him away, the fallen merman supported amongst them as they reached deeper waters and dove into the depths. Th air ringing with the final notes of their grief, Steve turned away, somehow feeling as though someone had ripped his heart out. However, the sound of a tail slapping water softly made him turn. The woman with vivid strawberry hair was back again, swimming closer to place a hand on his chest.

"Thank you," she murmured. Before he could process the fact that a mermaid had spoken, or what to say in return, she was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Whew, need some tissues after writing that one. 
> 
> I wish I could say I knew why I did this. I keep seeing mermaid AU pictures, and on my boat this afternoon, muse struck with a vengeance. I'm sorry for the angst ^_^
> 
> Questions, comments and reviews greatly appreciated! I own nothing.


End file.
